Zimbabwe Revenue Authority

ZIMRA Celebrates Customs International Day

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority joined the rest of the world on the 26^th of January 2024 to celebrate the World Customs Day in Beitbridge. The WCD, is a global event that highlights the critical role of customs administrations in promoting international trade, securing borders, and facilitating economic growth.

The Commissioner General, Ms. Regina Chinamasa, led the procession of staff members and other stakeholders as they marched from Beitbridge town to the border, where the official event was held.

At the Beitbridge border post, the official event was attended by esteemed guests with officials from the South African Revenue Services (SARS), South African Police Services (SAPS), Border Management Authority (BMA) among other international partners and senior government officials.

This year 2024’s theme, "Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose," underscores the significance of collaboration between customs agencies and other stakeholders to quicken trade facilitation, sharing information, data collection, addressing emerging challenges and harnessing opportunities in an ever-evolving global landscape.

In his welcome remarks, the Member of Parliament for Matebeleland South under the youth quota, Mr Tinashe Mushipe, expressed his gratitude to government and ZIMRA for selecting his province to host the event. He acknowledged the importance of cooperation and support between various stakeholders with ZIMRA to build a prosperous nation and in line with government’s vision of an Upper Middle Class economy by 2030. The Commissioner General reinforced this view highlighting the importance of working with traditional partners and forging alliances with new partners.

The World Customs Organisation representative in Zimbabwe, who is also the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr. Batsira Chadzingwa, took the opportunity to stress the importance of adapting to the changing dynamics in global trade. He also emphasized the importance of building synergies with traditional and new partners, this approach effectively addresses the challenges faced in customs and international trade.

The event also witnessed the innovative technologies that ZIMRA is employing to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Mr Mukwena, who is managing the drone technology took the opportunity to showcase how the drone is going to effectively tame the vices in customs management. He took the gathering through the whole process of drone management and the distances that are to be covered by the drones.

A pre-recorded speech by the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion highlighted the importance of Customs administrators who serve as dynamic custodians of national borders, ensuring the smooth flow of goods, protecting societies from illicit activities, and contributing to the overall economic prosperity of the country. He further emphasised the dynamic nature of international trade that necessitates customs agencies to adapt and forge partnerships with both traditional and new stakeholders, amplifying their collective impact and fostering seamless trade facilitation.

Forbes Border Post Rolls out 24-hour facility

In a move designed to enhance efficient and effective trade facilitation, Forbes Border post opened a 24-hour facility on 15 January 2024. The development has come at a time when congestion had been experienced between the Forbes and Machipanda Border Post and will therefore aid in increasing traffic flow and de-congesting the border.

Mr Batsirayi Chadzingwa, the ZIMRA Commissioner Customs and Excise expressed satisfaction on ZIMRA’s is preparedness to operate the 24hour facility.

“As ZIMRA we are ready to operate 24hours at this border as this is not the first time to have a border running 24hours. Our staff members are ready to quick-start the project. Yes, we have some constraints in terms of resources, but we can do with what we have to ensure that we deliver on this mandate. We also need to look at the benefit of having a 24-hour border post as it allows the continuous movement of trucks. Over the past few years, we have heard reports of travellers queuing for almost 13km waiting on either side of the border to be cleared when we were closing at 10pm, ” he said.

The new system has aligned the process of physical verifications of goods cleared on Bills of Entry to become a 24-hour operation. The border operates 24 hours per day, on three (3) shifts working arrangement compared to the previous single 14 hour shift per day. The new arrangement has added 10 more hours thereby lengthening effective business working time to 24 hours per day. Trucks continue moving as they are cleared non-stop. All serving officers from different government departments operate around the clock now, including clearing agents.

Commenting on the facility, Regional Immigration Officer Mr Richard Tambandini revealed that everything was in place for the system to succeed.

“Our system is in place and no challenges were encountered. We recorded 22 entries into the country and 83 exits from 10pm. We expect volumes to increase with time as people become accustomed to the new development.” he said.

Traditionally, the physical movement of goods across the border has been done between 6am to 10pm, this way lesser number of trucks crossed the border compared to the number relating to Bills of Entry documents processed online in Asycuda per day and it always resulted in congestion. The two countries will reap the benefit from this facility which will increase volume of trade, productivity and capital inflow. The border serves almost half of the SADC region and is clearing about 550 haulage trucks every day.

ZIMRA Signs MOU with ZIDA

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) fostered a major partnership by signing a memorandum of agreement with Zimbabwe Investment Authority(ZIDA) on 12 January 2024 in Harare. The MOU aims to enhance Ease of doing Business and to facilitate domestic and foreign investment in Zimbabwe.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the two entail a one stop Investment centre which encompasses integration of electronic services and investor-related services. The agreement also provides a platform for information exchange on Investor Tax incentives and Tax obligations. The parties also agreed to work together in formulating policies to promote ease of doing business and investment.

Making his remarks during the signing ceremony the ZIDA Chief Executive Officer Mr Tendai Chinamo highlighted that ZIDA already had an existing cordial relationship with ZIMRA.

“We are now committing ourselves to even higher standards, we are saying how can we become more efficient. When an investor comes generally most of the intervention has to do with tax obligations. We will also advise ZIMRA on policies that affect the entry retention and facilitation of investments and provide assistance to ZIMRA to enable it to perform its functions in terms of the legislation administered by ZIMRA,” he said.

In a statement during the same event the ZIMRA Commissioner General emphasized the Authority’s commitment to service. “The collaboration goes deeper to demonstrate that we want to serve and It’s incumbent on us to do what is necessary. We want to be proactive and the transparency signified by this MoU is a starting point. She added that ZIMRA is going to provide accurate, correct and timely information to the new investors, and it is going to create awareness in terms of the tax obligations that exist giving ZIMRA a pre-and post –investor experience. As we move forward it is important that even when you are working on investment policy, you also have adequate information in terms of monitoring and evaluation of the nature and quality of our investments. On our side, we also need information upfront to know who we are dealing with in order to enhance compliance.” She said.

The partnership between the two parties will consequently integrate their systems to achieve real-time log in of investor information and real-time processing of queries and issues that deal with promotion, protection and facilitation of investment in the country. Commenting during the same event Theresa Machingura, the Chief Legal Officer stressed on the benefits of integrating the two systems which would increase efficiency. She further indicated that the clearly defined roles of the two parties in the MOU, would be in the best interest of the investor.

“The collaboration aims to ensure Zimbabwe becomes a destination of choice” said Machingura.